Illustration by Grace Schafer-Perry
Privilege is a word that gets thrown around a lot at Berkeley High School (BHS), not only in the hallways and quad, but also within our classrooms. BHS has done a excellent job of integrating privilege into our curriculum; it is a very necessary and current discussion that is beneficial to understand for people of all backgrounds. However, these days, I think people are a bit confused by what exactly privilege means.
Privilege is an advantage or special treatment given to a person or group based solely on innate characteristics. For example, as a white, middle-class man, I have a host of inherent privileges. I can walk down the street, at any time, and be unconcerned about being stopped by the police or harassed by strangers. This is a privilege because it is an inherent advantage I possess, and because not every group has this same exemption.
Now, discussing all the privileges I that as a white man have is easy; it is only when you begin discussing groups that are privileged in some regards but underprivileged in others that the discussion becomes complicated. It is this very discussion, often called intersectionality, that BHS struggles to acknowledge.
I would also like to make it very clear in this article that I am by no means trying to delegitimize anyone’s privilege or lack thereof, and I cannot for a minute claim to know anyone’s background enough to argue that point. However, in BHS the tendency of some groups is to tote the status of oppressed without acknowledging the areas in which they are privileged. This can be damaging for everyone.
Intersectionality is the argument that discrimination and privilege in its many forms are intertwined and cannot therefore be looked at as individual issues but instead must be looked at holistically.
According to the 2010 census map of Berkeley, there are massive swaths of the city in which the average income spikes to upwards of $130,000. I only bring this up because many of our peers live in these areas of profound economic affluence that often gets brushed under the rug when the discussion of privilege comes up.
So for those who may live in these affluent areas, and therefore have socioeconomic privilege, when the discussion begins about how as a women, as a member of the LGBT+ community, or as a member of any other disenfranchised group you face discrimination your assessment is completely valid. However, that does not mean you can neglect to mention that your parents make six digits a year because that is just as much a part of your privilege as anything else.
It is this concept of overlapping privilege that is not taught at BHS. Instead, we are taught that privilege is only subtractive. What this has done is create a culture that only acknowledges the ways in which people are underprivileged and fails to mention the ways in which they have an advantage.
This has created a pecking order of privilege within our school and has naturally led to the discussion of privilege becoming a competition of sorts. The epitome of this culture is the “step back, step up” privilege game in which you are told to step forward depending on if a question gives you a disadvantage or an advantage. What so often happens is that individuals will creep forward with hesitation but take backward strides with ease to increase their separation. People want to give off the visual impression that they are less privileged than they actually are, so they make sure that by the end of the game when everyone is forward or backward depending on their composite privileges, they are further back than reality.
The problem with the nature of this discussion is that it leads to division rather than growth. It does not foster a community that seeks to understand one another’s privilege and work to equalize, but rather serves as a device to keep the lines of separation clear. Understanding the way you are affected by privilege goes both ways because just as understanding how you’re discriminated against can empower you, understanding how your privilege gives you an advantage, and using that advantage to empower those less fortunate, can accomplish the same goal.
Within BHS, privilege is often given a bad name; this in turn can cause people to try and hide their privileges rather than discuss them. It is time that we begin approaching this issue from more than one angle and understand the benefits of bringing multiple perspectives to an issue. Because denying your privilege, as we see so often in our school, does nothing for anyone and leaves us divided and bitter.